


warm up

by erenyaeger



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 17:18:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5635306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erenyaeger/pseuds/erenyaeger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"...You know that, Armin, just… god, Armin. What are you afraid of?” Eren begged, searching Armin's eyes so desperately for answers that it felt like he was staring into his soul, and Armin felt naked before him.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	warm up

“I heard there’s going to be a party on Friday.”

 

The words broke the silence hanging in the room, and Eren rolled onto his side to try and catch Armin’s eyes. Unfortunately Armin was still staring into the abyss that was their suspiciously stain covered ceiling, and so his gaze fell to the curve of Armin’s cheek instead. He found himself admiring the shape of it, and he had to take a deep breath to steady himself so that he didn’t think about how soft Armin’s cheek would be against his lips.

 

“I’m sure there are going to be a lot of parties on Friday.” Eren replied, “I’m sure there are lots of parties other days, too. This city is pretty busy.”

 

He searched the blonde’s face, trying to find the real meaning behind his earlier statement, and when Armin continued to stare up and ahead he came out blank.

 

“What does it matter?” He finally followed his earlier reply with, and Armin pointed his toes and crossed them like he sometimes did when he was nervous. He remembered it from years of watching Armin get called on abruptly in classes and hundreds of late night trips to the little diner next door when their waitress came back and Armin wasn’t ready to order yet.

 

“Someone came by earlier.” Armin finally offered.

 

“And?”

 

“They wanted to know if you wanted to go.”

 

“Well I don’t.”

 

This finally earned a small smile that turned into a wide grin as Armin turned to look the brunette in the eyes finally, giggling a little.

 

“You didn’t even ask who or where.” He cooed fondly. He understood why some people would label Eren as stubborn, and he wondered if those same people would think him odd for finding it endearing.

 

“I don’t need to. I’m not going to go.” Eren declared. “Friday is take-out and movie night.”

 

Armin held his smile, almost wincing as he did, because Eren looked at him like he was something worth sacrificing things for and the words that wanted to come out of his mouth would almost definitely sabotage that.

 

“It doesn’t have to be if you don’t want it to.” The words came from his mouth like a miasma, slowly and sluggishly oozing out into the air, and Eren furrowed his brow.

 

“Why would you even say that?” He asked, and Armin wondered if the tinge of hurt in his voice upon hearing the suggestion was real or wishful thinking on his part.

 

“I just… Sometimes I… Oh…” Armin groaned and trailed off quietly, almost curling into himself and looking away from the other boy until Eren scooted closer and cupped his cheek.

 

“What?” Eren asked gently, tilting Armin’s head so that he could catch his eyes again, and Armin swallowed thickly and struggled to keep their eyes locked.

 

“Sometimes I worry you’ll get bored of me and want to do something else.” Armin admitted, cheeks flushing when he realized what it could have sounded like and stomach knotting at the possibility that now that he’d voiced his fear it could someday come true.

 

“What? Armin no, that’s not going to happen.” Eren’s gaze softened. “That’s not ever going to happen. I love being with you. You understand me. You even laugh at my bad jokes. Besides, we go on plenty of adventures together. Those aren’t boring.”

 

The brunette smiled encouragingly at Armin, and Armin had to find it in himself to offer a small, tentative smile in return.

 

“Yeah.” Armin murmured, and the way that the word hung in the air made Eren’s smile fade a little.

 

“If it would make you feel better we could go.” He tried. On one hand he knew full well loud, crowded rooms of intoxicated people weren’t really Armin’s scene, and if he went he would almost definitely hate it and want to go home in the first five minutes and Eren would probably feel similarly, considering he didn’t much like people even when they were sober. On the other hand, he wondered if maybe letting the scene play out like that would somehow reassure Armin and make the blonde feel better so that they could lay his fears to rest.

 

On the other hand, he also wasn’t sure he could even deal with five seconds of drunk, leering assholes trying to make passes at his very pretty boy frie- best friend.

 

He realized he was zoning when Armin’s voice hit his ears again.

 

“You were the only one invited.” The blonde pointed out, and Eren frowned.

 

“I especially don’t want to go if you can’t go with me. You fucking know that, you have to, you’re my best friend and we’re supposed to see the world together, not away from each other. You know that, Armin, just… god, Armin. What are you afraid of?” Eren begged, searching Armin's eyes so desperately for answers that it felt like he was staring into his soul, and Armin felt naked before him.

 

“It was the way he asked.” Armin started slowly, almost hoping Eren would say something that he could use to guide them away from his thoughts, but Eren just waited patiently for Armin to continue and Armin was always a sucker for his eyes.

 

“He said he’d been trying to reach you all week. Maybe you didn’t get his texts, he said,” _and I wanted to tell him maybe you didn’t want to be found and you’re too good for him anyway-_ “so he thought he’d drop by to see how you were doing and if you wanted to come to that party on Friday.”

 

Armin paused, trying to collect himself enough to explain what happened next, and Eren nodded and began to rub his thumb against Armin’s cheek. It was supposed to be comforting and it was, like a band-aid that guards an open wound from the elements, but Armin felt his stomach twisting like the way stomachs do before band-aids get ripped off.

 

“He said he didn’t know what you were wasting your weekends doing,” Armin’s throat tightened, “and he thought maybe you’d want to liven them up sooner or later. A-and I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you this part-“

 

At this point Armin’s voice was shrill and his eyes were glassy, and Eren almost wanted to wrap him up in his arms and save him from the strain of finishing that last thought. If he did that, though, he might not fully understand what was upsetting Armin enough to console him.

 

“-but he said he couldn’t wait to get you alone and I don’t… I-I don’t want to share you...” Armin choked out with a sob, wondering if that train of thought made any sense at all, and if it didn’t then that was too damn bad because he didn’t even think he could make his voice work long enough to tell Eren that _he was fucking in love with him_ and his life would be over once Eren found a boyfriend or girlfriend to screw around with and ruin Armin’s fantasy of them having a future together.

 

Eren had to pull himself together before he could respond, because it sounded an awful lot like his best friend who he’d been in love with forever might actually just reciprocate his feelings and maybe all of those years of little pecks on the cheek and lazy canoodling on the couch weren’t necessarily because they were best friends (he did recall someone say usually best friends don’t do that but maybe boyfriends did)—

 

Another sharp sob from the blonde shook Eren from his thoughts, and he refocused himself on trying to address Armin’s earlier concern.

 

“Hey. Hey.” Eren soothed gently, wiping a hot tear from Armin’s cheek and pulling the blonde against his chest. “If this asshole’s who I think it is then I wasn’t returning his calls for a reason. Trust me, there’s no chance in hell of that happening, despite what he’s managed to delude himself into thinking. I’m really not into that.”

 

The declaration was enough to make Armin giggle out of relief, sniffling a little bit as he tried to find his voice again.

 

“What are you into?” Armin asked quietly, originally planning to pass it off as a joke but finding that his voice came out too weak to make it convincing. His heart almost jumped out of his throat when Eren moved so that their eyes locked again, and Armin knew then that he was caught and probably only imagining the glimmer of hope in Eren’s eyes and _shit_ —

 

“Well,” Eren started, “there’s this boy I know and I knew him when I was young. He looked like an angel because his hair shined gold when the light hit it, and his eyes looked like the ocean on a sunny day. He used to read to me in the class library and we would share a beanbag. We also used to try and sneak off of the playground to go on adventures. I promised to take him on real ones one day. He’d curl up in my arms when we had sleepovers and I liked holding him better than I liked holding any toy I had, and I liked it even more when he held me because he was warm and soft to lay on. I decided I was going to marry him one day, and I think that pretty much ruined me from loving anyone else.”

 

By the time Eren was done speaking Armin was pretty sure the grin on his face was bordering on disturbing, and he was surprised Eren hadn’t ran for it at that point.

 

“Good.” Armin beamed, wondering if maybe it was a little fucked up that he was so giddy after Eren had said he’d ruined him, but that thought was forgotten once he could feel Eren’s breath against his lips.

 

“You need to take responsibility for that, you know.” Eren murmured, pressing their lips together. Armin kissed back desperately, wrapping his arms around Eren’s shoulders and his legs around Eren’s hips and _clinging_ like he had wanted to since Eren first came back from class earlier that day. Armin didn’t even notice that he was getting light headed until Eren gently broke the kiss to let him take a breath, peppering his jawbone with kisses while he waited.

 

“I need to. I’m glad to.” Armin managed to get out after a few deep breaths, and Eren kissed back up to the corner of Armin’s mouth.

 

“Good. You have a lot of time to make up for.” Eren said, punctuating the declaration with more kisses.

 

By Friday neither of them even thought about the party again.

**Author's Note:**

> _I wrote this partially trying to ease back into writing after a long time away and partially to lay some things to rest. I hope it can serve some purpose for you as well, even if that is as small is brightening up someone's day a little._
> 
> _For Armin as always._


End file.
